Treatment of Nasopharyngeal Cancer in Recurrent or Metastatic Disease Not Amenable to Surgery or Re-irradiation

This protocol addresses nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) in patients whose disease has progressed to a metastatic stage and is no longer newly diagnosed, or in whom locoregional recurrence has been deemed unresectable and unsuitable for re-irradiation — a setting where curative-intent local therapy is no longer an option.

Clinical scenario

The applicable population includes patients with metastatic NPC not in the newly diagnosed phase, and those with locoregional recurrent disease for whom salvage surgery or re-irradiation cannot be offered. Palliative systemic therapy is considered for patients maintaining an adequate performance status.

Treatment approach (partial)

First-line palliative chemotherapy with a combination regimen is the established approach for eligible patients in this setting.

Full regimen details, eligibility criteria, and sequencing are available in the complete protocol below.

Instant Access to Structured Evidence-Based Regimens

References

DOI: 10.1016/j.annonc.2020.12.007

In metastatic NPC, palliative ChT should be considered for patients with an adequate PS.
A treatment combination of cisplatin and gemcitabine is the first-line choice and improves OS [I, A].

View source ↗